Friday, October 9, 2015
Chapter 4 Reflection
Deciding which topics you should pick for your students to do for their projects is not as easy as you would think. There are many different things you have to think about and take into consideration. "To really engage learners, you have to set up a situation in which they want to ask questions, want to learn more, need to know something they don't already know, and believe it is really important to them and, especially, to the larger community to find out. Some places you are able to get these types of ideas from is a "tried-and-true" project that holds potential for more learning. This could also include students being able to teach others what they have learned about the topic through the project. Other places are project plans developed by and for other teachers, news stories or student questions or interests. I think that it is a good idea to have your students help you decide which topics to use because it shows that they are interested and willing to put their best effort forward in the project, which will lead to a better learning experience for them.
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I agree with you Erica on how important deciding what projects to use can be and that sometimes it can be difficult to administer in a way that is fun for your students. There are many ways to set up a community of learners in a project based setting but I do agree that these components such as ask questions etc., are very useful tools for building that community. Lastly the idea of student driven projects really appeals to me because it gives the students the idea that they are really behind there learning and that is monumental for kids gaining confidence. Giving kids the realms from a certain degree, really opens up a lot of opportunities that the old standard style of teaching simply couldn’t.
ReplyDeleteI think that choosing topics that will interest your students is crucial especially when first introducing them to PBL. It will make the work and effort put into the project much more genuine and help the students come up with good ideas with confidence on all fronts. It will make the students not only want to learn about that specific material but will know it well enough they will be able to present and teach it to their classmates.
ReplyDeletei agree with you about have students teach other students is beneficial for students. i think if a student can teach ohters what they learned that shows they know the material.
ReplyDeleteThe absolute best way of knowing your self that you understand something is what you had sai about: "students being able to teach others what they have learned about the topic through the project." If students are able to teach ohters about what they have learned then you know as a teacher you have completely and successfully taught the students well in knowing thier objectives. Great point to be made known!
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